The cake I made whilst in isolation.
How are you? Yes, you the person reading this. I would genuinely like to know. The world is crazy right now. On edge, anxiety induced; so let’s make a bourbon filled cake. My birthday was on Sunday and due to COVID-19, I was forced to spend my 28th birthday alone- just me and my pup. While I am grateful for the privilege of having a safe home to self isolate, I was still sad nonetheless. You know what I like to do when I am sad? Eat all of the carbs. Below is the recipe for my quarantine birthday cake, in all of it’s glory. There are a lot of components to this cake, and let’s be honest, while in lockdown I have all the time in the world to make them. Don’t worry, future non lockdown self, these components can all be made in advance for easier assembly.
Quarantine Birthday Cake aka Bourbon Buttermilk cake with Raspberry Bourbon Filling and German Buttercream
To make things easier on yourself, I suggest you make the raspberry compote first. Put that in the fridge, then make the custard base for your buttercream. While those cool in the fridge, make and bake your cakes. While the cakes cool, finish up the buttercream.
Bourbon Buttermilk Cake: (Adapted from Bravetart)
4 cups (16 ounces) cake flour
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, room temp around 65F
2/3 cup (4 ounces) coconut oil, room temp around 70F
2 1/2 cups (16 ounces) sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
8 large egg whites, room temp around 70F
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon 2 cups (16 ounces) cultured low-fat buttermilk, room temp around 70F
Preheat your oven to 325F. Place parchment rounds in the bottom of three 8 x 3 cake pans and grease with cooking spray or butter.
Combine the butter, coconut oil, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, mix on medium until the mixture is fluffy and light, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Be very careful here, you do not want to over mix this, about 5 minutes should do it. Mix on medium again, adding the vanilla and bourbon, then adding the egg whites a little at a time.
Put your stand mixer on the low setting, add about a cup of flour. Let the mixture just incorporate, then add about half a cup of buttermilk. Continue this process using up all of the flour and buttermilk.
Make sure the cake mix is completely mixed by scraping the bottom of the bowl with a flexible spatula. Divide the mixture evenly into your greased cake pans. Bake for about 40 minutes, rotating the pans throughout cooking time. When the cakes are ready, there will be a slight browned circle around the end and a few crumbs when a toothpick is inserted in the middle.
Leave the cakes in their pans to cool. Once completely cool, convert cakes onto a wire rack. Remove parchment paper and you are ready to frost. Again, make sure the cakes are completely cool before you start to frost!
Raspberry Bourbon Filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
12 ounces fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon bourbon
Combine the sugar, water, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Whisk over medium high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Add bourbon followed by raspberries. Slowly fold the mixture, careful not to crush the raspberries. Allow to cool completely then refrigerate for three hours or until the filling is set.
German Buttercream: (Adapted from Serious Eats)
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) milk
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch (1 1/2 ounces)
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 sticks (20 ounces) unsalted butter at room temp, about 68 degrees
Whisk the sugar and the cornstarch together in a large bowl, followed by the three eggs straight from the fridge. In a medium saucepan, heat milk and vanilla paste until the mixture reaches a simmer. While whisking the egg mixture constantly, add about half a cup of the hot milk. Keep whisking and repeat this process twice more. You do not want to stop whisking, as this will cause the mixture to curdle and you will get little bits of cooked egg throughout. If that happens, just strain the mixture through a sieve. But if you constantly whisk, you should be just fine! Pour your now warmed eggs back into the pot where you warmed the milk. Cook over medium heat, and again WHISK CONSTANTLY. After about three minutes, the mixture should look very lumpy and like something is wrong. You are doing great, keep going. Once this starts to bubble, cook for an additional 2 minutes, but no longer. Take the pot off of the heat and mix in the vanilla extract (or bourbon :))
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and cool in the fridge for about an hour or until 68F.
Once your custard base is cool, beat the softened butter in the bottom of your stand mixer using the paddle attachment on medium. Once the butter is fluffy, about 5 minutes, add about half a cup of the cooled custard into the butter at a time with the machine still running. Switch to the whisk attachment and beat on medium until the entire mixture is fluffy and light.
You can make this buttercream up to two weeks in advance, just cover tightly and store in refridgerator! (you will need to bring it to room temperature before frosting)
Assembly: Place a dab of frosting on the bottom of your cake plate. Level cakes if necessary, place your first cake layer on the plate. With an offset spatula, frost the sides and center of the cake with a thin layer of frosting. Using a piping bag, pipe a border around the center of the cake to act as a barrier for the filling. Fill the center of the cake with your raspberry filling. Repeat again with additional layers, omitting the raspberry filling for the top layer. Place the entire cake in the fridge to set. In the meantime, color your remaining buttercream with gel food coloring if desired. After about 30 minutes, remove the cake from the fridge and frost the entire cake with the remaining frosting.
The cake can sit at room temp, covered for three days. Enjoy!
A Practical Mess 